Democrat says spat puts election at risk

Dispute over primary still unresolved

March 19, 2008|By Anthony Man Political Writer

A leading Broward Democrat warned Tuesday that the party risks losing Florida in the fall - and because of it the presidential election - if it can't come to a peaceful resolution to the mess surrounding the Jan. 29 primary and the state's delegates.

Failure to solve the delegate problem in a way that satisfies all sides, U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said, would send the message to Democrats across the state that the party doesn't care about their votes.

"We cannot undermine the confidence of Florida's voters," she said.

The Weston Democrat is a national co-chairwoman of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign but said her concern applies if Barack Obama wins the nomination.

Speaking to a Democratic political club in Fort Lauderdale, Wasserman Schultz said she expected that most of the 200 activists in the room would, like her, support the nominee. Others might not.

"What kind of a message would we be sending to Florida voters?" she asked.

"What are we going to do when we have the psyche and the attention and the enthusiasm of Florida voters ... deflated because again Florida's votes would be cast aside? What are we going to do? How are we going to make sure we can put Florida in the win column?"

Wasserman Schultz said she thinks it won't come to that because, ultimately, a Florida delegation will be seated at the Democratic National Convention. For now, the national party has stripped Florida of its convention delegates because the primary was held earlier than national rules allowed.

Still, the congresswoman said, the delegate mess is easier to resolve now that the state Democratic Party abandoned its idea of a do-over primary by mail - an idea that was opposed by all nine Florida Democrats in the U.S. House.

"We have a number of ways that this can be accomplished. It's too early to answer the question how."

One option is allowing all delegates to attend the convention in Denver, but give each only half a vote. That would still give more votes to Clinton, but not as much as allowing all votes based on the primary.

Wasserman Schultz didn't offer an opinion about that idea.

Each side wants an outcome that would be the best for its candidate.

Wasserman Schultz wants some kind of plan for seating Florida delegates at the national convention that gives weight to the Jan. 29 results. That position benefits her candidate, who won.

"Our delegation needs to be reflective of the votes that were cast on the 29th in some way. You can't ignore the outcome on the 29th," she said.

Linda Bird, a Democratic activist and Clinton supporter, supports that approach. "We want to have our voices heard. We are the ones who voted."

Not all Democrats agree, especially Obama supporters. He got 33 percent of the vote in Florida's primary to Clinton's 50 percent.

"It would be unethical and dishonest to count those votes from the bogus primary," said Democrat Cal Deal, an Obama supporter from Fort Lauderdale.Shirley Franklin, another Fort Lauderdale Obama backer, said the Jan. 29 primary doesn't necessarily reflect the will of the voters.

True, a record 1.7 million Democrats participated, but Franklin said many were drawn to the polls by the state property tax referendum on the ballot that day.

Franklin wants half the state's delegates awarded to Clinton and half to Obama. "That's the only fair thing."

Wasserman Schultz ruled out that approach. "We can't make up a delegation. We can't base it on polls ... You can't split it 50-50 because that's not the will of Florida voters," she said.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4550.

Online

Broward Democrats gather for the first time since the state party halted plans for a primary re-vote. www.sun-Sentinel.com/browardpolitics